Method of making shoes



Dec. 31, 1929, V J. w. MAY 1,741,999

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES il 'F 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \nvenTor. LJOhn W.MC] b /2@w6 WkW ATTys.

Dec. 31, 1929. J. w. MAY 1,741,999

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES Filed Feb. 29, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Ila/0,Inn/101111111 smmmmm "5 InvenTor. FlglO. is \John WMo g b mwuf ggPatented Bea 31,1929

UNITED s'rA Joan warren MAY, or amour, muenosn'r'rs rm'rnon or namesnons Application fled February 29, 1088. flerial 1T0. 257,918.

This invention relates to a, novel shoe of the McKay-sewed type and alsoto a novel method of makiil, the shoe.

' One of the ob]ects of the invention is to 5 provide a novel shoe ofthis type which will have the desired stiffness and rigidity at both theshank portion and the toe portion to hold the shoe in proper place,while at the same time the portion of the sole which flexes or bendsas'one walks is as flexible as? the sole of a turned shoe.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel method by which ashoe having this characteristic can be made.

Prior to my present invention various attempts have been made to producea McKaysewed shoe with a flexible sole. One method which has beensuggested and which is illustrated in Blake Patent No. 44,388, Septemher27th, 1864, is to employ a temporary insole which is smaller than thelast and to which the upper is stitched with the stitches extendingoutside of the temporary insole.

After the outer sole has been sewed on, the

insole may then be pulled out of the shoe leaving the shoe with simplythe upper sewed to the outer sole. While a shoe of this type has aflexible sole yet it has not the desired strength and rigidity at theshank portion or the toe portion which is desirable in the type of ladysshoe such as is now commonly made, and moreover the manner in which theupper is lasted by this prior method is such that the pulling out oftheinsole is very liable to injure the shoe.

Another method which has been proposed is to last the upper to aninsolesmaller than .the last as above described and then to stitch theouter sole to the upper outside of the insole and subsequently'to cutthe edge of the upper between the stitches and the edge of the insolethus freeing the insole so that it can be removed. This method isillustrated in the Day Patent No. 440,994, November 18th, 1890. a

One disadvantage which is inherent in this method is that it is verydifiicult to cut the upper so as to permit the insole to be removedwithout cutting or otherwise injuring the outsole.

Still another method of niaking a McKaysewed shoe with a flexible solewhich has been proposed is illustrated in the Wood and Brown Patent-No.374,029, November 29th, 1887; According to this method a temporaryinsole is employed which is smallerthan the last and in lasting theupper the edges thereof are secured to the temporary insole by headlesstacks which are clinched over on the inside of the insoleby the metalbottom on the last. The outsole is then sewed to the shoe by stitcheswhich extend outside of the temporary insole after which said insole maybe withdrawn from the shoe and because headless tacks are used which areclinched over on the inside of the insole the tacks will all he pulledout of the u per by the removing of the temporary inso e. In order toproduce a McKay-sewed shoe it is desirable that the stitching should beso performed around the convexly-curved or tions of the sole that therewill be no li elihood of the seams openin up or grinning at-these pointsand one o the objects of my present invention is to provide a novelmethod by. which this end may be accomplished and at the same time ashoe may e provided in which the portion of the sole that bends as onewalks 15 as flexible as that of a turned shoe.

In carrying out my invention I apply to the metal bottom of 'a last ashank member which extends to substantially the ball of the foot andalso a two-part insole member, the two parts of which are separablyconnected together, one part of which is a toe F piece which is situatedat the toe of the last and has an exterior contour corresponding to thetoe portion of the last and the other part of which is a temporaryinsole member that extends from the toe piece back to and overlaps theshank member,'said temporary insole member being smaller than the last.

In lasting the upper the edges thereof are 7 drawn over the bottom ofthe last and temporarily secured to the shank member and the two-partinsole member and thereafter the outsole is McKay-sewed t0 the shoe bystitches which extend through the shank member and through the toe piecebut which extend outside of the temporary section of the insole, member.The temporary insole section is then detached from the toe piece andremoved from the shoe thus leaving the portion of the shoe between theshank piece and toe piece with only the outsole on the bottom of theshoe. The shank member is so sha that at the edges of the shoe it ,extens forwardly to or just beyond the convexl curved edge of the sole at theball of the oot so that at these convexly curved portions the stitchingis anchored in both the outer sole and the shank piece and there will beno danger of the upper pulling away from the outsole at this oint tosuch an extent as to expose the stitching. Similarly, around the convexcurvature of the toe of the shoe the stitches are anchored in both theoutsole and the toe piece and the upper will thus be firmly held so thatthere will be no danger of the upper pulling away from the outsolesufficiently to show the stitches, a condition which is sometimesreferred to as grinning.

In order to give an understanding of the invention I have illustrated inthe drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be describedafter which the novel features will be pointed out in the appendedclaims.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a shoe embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the insole member comprising the permanent toe pieceand the temporary insole section;

'Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a shoe made in accordance with myinvention which" has been lasted and before the outer sole. is sewed on;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a shoeembodymg my invention after theoutsole has been sewed on;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6, Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7, Fig. 5

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8, Fig. 5;

Fig. 9'is a view illustrating the manner in which the temporary insolesection is removed from the shoe;

' Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the headless tacks used;

Fig. 11 is a section on the line 11-11,

Fi 1; F Fig. 12 is a section on the line 1212,

In making a shoe according to my present method I employ an insolemember '1 of special construction such as shown in Fig. 2. This insolemember 1 comprises a toe section 2 which is permanently incorporatedinto the shoe and a temporary insole section 3 which is incorporatedinto the shoe for lasting purposes and then is subsequently removed. Thetoe section 2 has a shape corresponding to the shape of the toe of thelast 4.- so that when the insole member is applied to the bottom of thelast preparatory to. lasting the shoe the toe piece 2 will fit-the toeof the last,

the outer edge-of the toe piece 2 coinciding I with the outer edge ofthela'st, as seenin Fig. 12. The temporary insole section 3 isdetachably secured to the toe piece 2 and while it has a shape similarto the shape of the fore part of the last yet it is narrower than thelast so that when the insole member is applied to the bottom of the lastthe edges 5 of the temporary insolesection will'be spaced from the edgesof the last 4.

The temporary insole member and the toe piece may be detachably securedtogether in any approved way. One simple construction is that shown inFig. 2 wherein they are secured together by a piece 25 of paper or otherthin easily tearable material which is adhesively secured. to bothpieces.

In making the shoe an insole member, such as above described, is appliedto the last hav ing a metal bottom 6 and a shank piece 7 is also appliedto the bottom of the last, such shank piece having a shape to fit thelast so that the edges 8 thereof come flush with the edges of the last.This insole member and shank member may be attached to the last in anyusual way as by temporary fastenings 9. The upper 10 is then lasted over'the last during which operation the edges 11 thereof are secured to theshank member 7 by lasting tacks 12 all as usual and the edge 13 at thetoe portion is also secured to the toe piece 2 by other lasting tacks12. The portion 14 of the edge of the upper which overlaps the temporaryinsole section 3, however, is attached thereto by specially formedfastenings which are anchored more securely in the temporary insolemember than in the edge of the upper.

While various fastening devices having this characteristic might be usedI have herein shown for illustrative purposes a fastening device in theform of a headless tack 15 such as shown in Fig. 10. When these headlesstacks are driven through the edge 14 of the upper the points will beclinched over on the inside of the temporary insole section 3 and sincethe tacks have no heads they will thus be more securely anchored in theinsole section than in the edge of the upper. They are, however,sufliciently well anchored in the upper to hold the edges 14 in placeduringthe further operations on the shoe.

After the shoe has been lasted as above described the outsole 16 issewed thereto by the well-known McKay process and in performing thisoperation the stitches 17 along the shank of the shoe extend throughboth the outsole 16 and the shank portion 7, and around the toe of theshoe they also extend through both the outsole 16 and the toe piece 2while at the portion of the shoe between the v shank piece 7 and toepiece 2 said stitches extend outside the edge 5 of the temporary insolemember 3. When the outsole has been thus sewed to the shoe the temporaryinsole section 3 is detached from the toe piece 2 and removed from theshoe as illustrated in Fig. 9.

The operation of removing the temporary insole member also results inwithdrawing all the headless tacks 15 from the upper because saidtacks'are clinched over on the inside of the temporary insole member andare thus so securely anchored therein that the headless ends thereofwill pull out of the upper before the clinched ends will pull out of thetemporary insole section. This removal of the temporary insole sectionmay be accomplished in any suitable way, as for instance by employingpincers 18.

When the temporary insole section has been thus removed the shoe willhave incorporated therein the toe section at the toe of the shoe and theshank portion at the shank of the shoe while at the portion of the shoebetween the shank member and the toe section there will be only thethickness of the outer sole at the bottom of the shoe. When the shoe isused the portion of the sole which flexes and which it is desirable tohave flexible is that just at or in front of the ball of the foot andwith my invention this portion of the sole is flexible because it hasonly the stiffness in it proxided by the outsole. At the toe of the shoethe stitches 17 are anchored in both the outsole 16 and toe section 2and, therefore, they are firmly held and there is no possibility of theupper being pulled away from the outsole at this point sufficiently toshow the stitches.

It will be noted that the shank member 7 is so shaped that at itsforward end it presents portions 19, 20 which extend around the convexcurvature of the sole at 21 and 22 and, therefore, at theseconvexly-curved portions of the sole the stitches 17 are also anchoredin the shank piece on the interior of the shoe and are, therefore,firmly held at this point so that as the shoe is worn the upper cannotpull away from the sole and thus produce what is called a grinning seam;The only places where the stitches 17 are anchored only in the edge ofthe upper is along the relatively straight portions'23, 24 of the solebetween the convexly curved toe end and the convexly curved portions 21,22. Since the stitches are firmly held at either side of the straightportions there will be no particular tendency for the upper to pull awayfrom the sole at such portions sufficiently to show any grinningstitches.

In a shoe where there is no insole and the upper is sewed directly tothe outsole, as in the case of a turned shoe, the point where the uppertends to pull away from the sole and show a so-called grinning scamis'at the convexly-curved portions of the sole. In my improved shoethese portions are protected by reason of the fact that at such pointsthe stitches are anchored in" the portions 19, 20 of the shank and inthe toe piece section 2.

The toe piece is preferably skived along its rear edge so that after thetemporary insole member 3 has been removed there will be no abruptshoulder formed at the end of toe piece, the skived end of the latterforming a smooth surface with the outsole.

I claim:

The process of making a shoe which consists in forming a two-part insolemember comprising a toe section having an exterior shape correspondingto the toe section of the last on which the shoe is to be made and aremovable insole section which is ofi less width than said last andwhich is temporarily secured to the toe section, applying said insolemember and a separate shank member to the metal bottom of a last,lasting an upper over the last and in so doing fastening the edgesthereof to the shank member and to the toe section of the insole memberin usual manner, and fastening the edges of the upper to the removablesection of the insole member by fastenings which are more securely an-('horcd in the removable section than in the edges of the upper,removing the last from the shoe. stitching an outsole to the shoe bystitches which extend through the shank member and toe section of theinsole member but which extend outside of the removable insole section,and then removing said removable insole section trom'the shoe and bythis operation pulling from the edges of the upper the fastenings bywhich said edges are united to said removable section.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN WALTER MAY.

